(via The googly eyes of the mantis shrimp inspire new optical sensors | Ars Technica)
...Human eyes have three photoreceptors for detecting red, green, and blue light. Dogs have just two photoreceptors (green and blue), while birds have four, including one for detecting ultraviolet (UV) light. Octopuses, meanwhile, can detect polarized light. But mantis shrimp (aka stomatopods) have the most complex eyes of all: they can have between 12 and 16 individual photoreceptors and can thus detect visible, UV, and polarized light.
Mantis shrimp have three "pseudo-pupils stacked on top of each other. There are tens of thousands of clusters of photoreceptor cells called ommatidia, similar to the eyes of flies. Six rows of ommatidia in the middle of the eye, known as the midband, are each able to detect either specific wavelengths of light or polarized light. The first four rows are devoted to the former, including UV light, while the last two rows are lined with tiny hairs that confer the ability to detect the latter...
well damn - nice eyes there
